Annals of Government Medicine

An investigation reveals that under socialized medicine in the U.K., the death panel process has been delegated to hospital staff who designate patients “do not resuscitate” without the knowledge of the patient or his family and occasionally through clerical error:

Elderly patients are being condemned to an early death by hospitals making secret use of “do not resuscitate” orders, an investigation has found.

The orders – which record an advance decision that a patient’s life should not be saved if their heart stops – are routinely being applied without the knowledge of the patient or their relatives.

On one ward, one-third of DNR orders were issued without consultation with the patient or their family, according to the NHS’s own records. At another hospital, junior doctors freely admitted that the forms were filled out by medical teams without the involvement of patients or relatives. …

In 2009, heart attack victim Peter Clarke was left to die at Derby Hospitals Trust after clerical staff inserted a DNR form into his notes. Although the document was blank, nursing staff making handover notes misinterpreted it, and said the widower, who had been admitted suffering heart disease and flu-like symptoms, should not be resuscitated if his condition worsened.

When he suffered a heart attack, nurses did not call doctors to revive him. An hour too late they realised the DNR order was blank. Last year an inquest into his death found staff had been “routinely” placing the forms in medical records before they had been signed and witnessed.

The Democratic Party’s fondest wish is to subject you to government medicine.